1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a thermoelectric transducer apparatus comprising N-type thermoelectric transducer elements constituted by N-type semiconductors and P-type thermoelectric transducer elements constituted by P-type semiconductors and having electronic control capabilities to be suitably used for electronic freezers and other applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been proposed various cooling apparatuses that can be electronically controlled by means of N- and P-type thermoelectric transducer elements respectively constituted by N- and P-type semiconductors. FIG. 18 shows one of such thermoelectric transducer apparatus comprising a plurality of N-type thermoelectric transducer elements 111, 112, . . . constituted by N-type semiconductors and also a plurality of P-type thermoelectric transducer elements 121, 122, . . . constituted by P-type semiconductors.
Here, the N-type thermoelectric transducer elements 111, 112, . . . and the P-type thermoelectric transducer elements 121, 122, . . . are alternately arranged and separated from adjacent transducer elements, paired adjacent transducer elements being connected alternately by heat absorber plate electrodes 131, 132, . . . and heat liberator plate electrodes 141, 142, . . . physically in a zig-zag manner but electrically in series. When DC voltage is applied to such a series circuit comprising a plurality of N-type thermoelectric transducer elements 111, 112, . . . and P-type thermoelectric transducer elements 121, 122, . . . , the heat absorber plate electrodes 131, 132, . . . , each of which is connected with an upstream N-type thermoelectric transducer element and a downstream P-type thermoelectric transducer element, are cooled due to the Peltier effect, while the heat liberator plate electrodes 141, 142, . . . , each of which is connected conversely with an upstream P-type thermoelectric element and a downstream N-type thermoelectric element, are heated and become hot.
A pair of insulator plates 15 and 16 are arranged respectively in contact with the outer surface of the heat absorber plate electrodes 131, 132, . . . and that of the heat liberator plate electrodes 141, 142, . . . , said plate electrodes constituting effective functional areas of the thermoelectric transducer apparatus, and then a heat-absorbing-type heat exchanger 17 and a heat-liberating-type heat exchanger 18 are bonded to the respective outer surfaces of the insulator plates 15 and 16.
In a thermoelectric transducer apparatus having a configuration as described above, any neighboring ones of the plate electrodes 131, 132, . . . and 141, 142, . . . are electrically securely insulated from one another by the insulator plates 15 and 16 and the conductive heat exchangers 17 and 18 are arranged outside the respective insulator plates 15 and 16. Therefore, the low temperature state of the heat-absorbing-type plate electrodes 131, 132, . . . and the high temperature state of the heat-liberating-type plate electrodes 141, 142, . . . are not effectively transferred to the respective heat exchangers 17 and 18 because of the heat barriers of the insulator plates 15 to consequently reduce the heat absorption efficiency and the heat liberation efficiency of the respective sides.
The electric current supplied to the functional areas of the thermoelectric transducer apparatus runs through the heat-absorbing-type and heat-liberating-type plate electrodes 131, 132, . . . , 141, 142, . . . to generate Joule heat by the electric resistance of the plate electrodes and further reduce the cooling effect of the apparatus.